Water in the Rocky Mountain West. The long-term economic health depends on the availability of adequate water supplies. The West continues to face complicated and rapidly changing water policy challenges. The Institute has engaged in a wide array of projects to support the Colorado Water for the 21st Century Act, a legislative process that sets up a framework to create a permanent forum for broad-based water discussions. The new structures provide an opportunity to address water issues within and between basins.

Climate Change. From Al Gore's award winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, to the series of reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), policies to mitigate and adapt to climate change has become front and center globally and locally. Colorado Stat University is home to the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Multi-Scale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes, CMMAP, which is engaged in research, technology transfer, and education, outreach, and diversity. The Institute partners with institutions and groups across the state to enhance teaching and learning at all educational levels, disseminate science results through multiple media, engage stakeholders and policymakers, and improve science pedagogy. View our projects.

Community-based Forestry outreach project: The Institute partnered with Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University to produce outreach online and print documents for the recently completed Ford Foundation Community-based Forestry Demonstration Program. The multi-partner research team for the project was headed by Tony Cheng and Maria Fernandez-Gimenez at CSU.